The system could include a main center-field display measuring 60 feet tall and 237 feet wide -- nearly three times the square-footage of the current display, which was installed in 2003. Those dimensions were included in information provided to the Gateway Economic Development Corporation, which approved the scoreboard overhaul as part of a larger $27 million project, but a team spokesman said the specific size has not yet been finalized.

The proposal, which also includes a replacement of the facility's heating and cooling system among other work, now is headed to Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, which will consider whether to pay for the project. A possible funding source could be the county's 'sin tax' on alcohol and cigarettes, a 20-year extension of which was approved by voters in May 2014 to pay for sports facilities.

The county this month began collecting the 'new' sin tax, which nets an average of about $14 million annually. But County Executive Armond Budish has not said how he plans to propose splitting the money among the city's three professional sports facilities, which are publicly owned.

The public is responsible for any maintenance projects at Progressive Field and Quicken Loans Arena costing more than $500,000, under the terms of the teams' lease with Gateway, whose board members are appointed by Cleveland and the county.

Gateway officials have said they consider adequate scoreboards to be a basic part of a sports stadium, comparable to adequate restrooms. Under the terms of the team's lease, the scoreboard is considered to be obsolete if it is inferior to 75 percent of other scoreboards in Major League Baseball stadiums.

The county earlier this week approved giving $100,000 to Gateway to help analyze future construction requests from the teams. Tim Offtermatt, Gateway's chairman, said his organization and its consultants need the extra money to keep up with the volume of requests.

Gateway board members on Wednesday also heard plans from the Indians for a second phase of planned upgrades to Progressive Field.

According to the Indians, "a large, large majority" of the latest renovations would be privately funded. A small portion, which will go toward things such as heavy machinery in new concession areas, could be publicly funded.

The Indians largely have completed a first phase of team-financed upgrades, which most notably added a new right-field bar and improved dining options for this season while reducing the ballpark's capacity by about 7,000 seats.

Northeast Ohio Media Group reporter Karen Farkas contributed to this story

This story was updated at 8:49 p.m. to remove references to four additional display boards in and around Progressive Field as part of the scoreboard project. A team spokesman said the boards had been part of an earlier version of the project, but they had been removed.